On September 18-19 the Law School of the University of A Coruna hosted and International Conference, entitled ‘The political economy of punishment today: Visions, debates and challenges’. The Conference was organised by the ECRIM, under the academic coordination of José Ángel Brandariz (University of A Coruna, Spain), Dario Melossi (University of Bologna, Italy) and Máximo Sozzo (National University of the Litoral, Argentina).

Dario Melossi

The Conference began with a lecture given by Dario Melossi (University of Bologna, Italy). His lecture, entitled ‘The Prison and the Factory revisited: The Cycle of the Canaille’, worked as a general introduction to the topics of the Conference.

Dario Melossi’s lecture was ensued by a first panel session, named ‘Political Economy of Punishment Issues I’, which encompassed two presentations.

Diego Zysman

On the one hand, Diego Zysman (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) reflected on ‘Political Economy, Democracy, and punitivism in Argentina’.

Daniel Jiménez

On the other hand, Daniel Jiménez Franco (University of Zaragoza, Spain), to a certain degree mirroring the perspective of his Argentinean counterpart, gave a talk on ‘Political Economy, Democracy, and punitivism in Spain’.

Alessandro De Giorgi

The panel session was followed by a lecture given by Alessandro de Giorgi (State University of San Jose, USA). The California-based scholar lectured on ‘Beyond Determinism: Towards a Cultural Political Economy of Punishment in Late Capitalism’.

The Conference resumed in the afternoon of September 18 with a panel session on ‘Political Economy of Punishment Issues II’. The panel session began with a talk given by José Ángel Brandariz (University of A Coruna, Spain), who presented a paper named ‘The punishment of migrants and the Political Economy of Punishment’.

Ignacio González

Thereafter, Ignacio González Sánchez, from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, completed the panel session by giving a talk on ‘Neoliberal policies and the expansion of State punishment’.

Charlotte Vanneste

A lecture given by Charlotte Vanneste (National Institute of Criminalistics and Criminology, and University of Liège, Belgium) ensued the second panel session. The Belgian scholar reflected on ‘From one recession to another: the lessons of a long-term political economy of punishment’.

The first day of the Conference ended with a panel session on ‘Punishment and Political Economy’, which included three presentations.

Patricia Faraldo

The first paper was presented by Patricia Faraldo (University of A Coruna, Spain), who also was the chair of the organising committee of the Conference. Her paper was entitled ‘Who dares fine a murderer? Fines and the changing meaning of money in criminal law’.

Mariel Muraro

The second paper of the panel session, sinthetically named ‘Underclass’, was presented by the Brazilian scholar Mariel Muraro (State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Kerry Carrington

Finally, the panel session was closed by a talk given by Kerry Carrington (Queensland University of Technology, Australia). The well-known Australian scholar reflected on ‘Youth Justice, Boot Camps and the Return of the Retributive Justice: The peculiar political economy of punishment in an Australian jurisdiction’.

Leonidas Cheliotis

The second day of the Conference began with a lecture given by Leonidas Cheliotis (London School of Economics, England, UK). The London-based scholar presented a paper on ‘The Limits of Inclusion: Globalisation, Neoliberalism and State Policies of Border Control’.

A first panel session on ‘Penality Issues’ followed Leonidas Cheliotis’ presentation.

Hilde Tubex

The panel session was opened by a paper presented by Hilde Tubex (University of Western Australia, Australia), who reflected on ‘Analysing levels of punishment in Australia’.

Gavin Slade

Geographically shifting the viewpoint, Gavin Slade, from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, presented a paper on ‘Punishment in the Post-soviet Region’.

Ignacio Mendiola

The panel session was closed by a talk given by Ignacio Mendiola (University of the Basque Country, Spain) and entitled ‘The capture of space: From precarity to inhabitability’.

The morning session of September 19 also hosted a lecture given by Máximo Sozzo (National University of the Litoral, Argentina), in which the Argentinean scholar discussed the topics of political economy of punishment by presenting a paper named ‘Economy, politics and punishment: between ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions’.

Ana Ballesteros

A second panel session on ‘Penality Issues’ ensued. The first paper of the panel was presented by Ana Ballesteros (University of Barcelona, Spain), who reflected on ‘Respectful moduled (módulos de respeto) in the Spanish Penitentiary System from a gender perspective: Research approach and preliminary results’.

From left to right: Dimitris Koros, Sofia Spyrea, and Nikolaos Koulouris

The second talk of the panel session was given by three scholars of the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece: Nikolaos Koulouris, Dimitris Koros, and Sofia Spyrea. The greek researchers presented a paper on ‘Inequalities in Punishment: Imprisonment, Community Service and Electronic Monitoring in Greece’.

Ana Neira

The panel session also included a presentation given by a researcher affliated to the University of A Coruna, Spain: Ana Neira, who reflected on ‘The neoliberal criminal policy as a source of impunity for large corporations. The perverse logic of ‘too big to jail’.

Richard Sparks

The Conference was closed by a final lecture, given by Richard Sparks (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK). As a best final talk of the Conference, the UK scholar presented a paper entitled ‘Anti-politics, penal politics and questions of legitimation’.

On September 16 the Law School of the University of A Coruna hosted a lecture, entitled ‘Women’s struggles for security and justice across the world‘, and given by Kerry Carrington, Professor of Criminology and Head of the School of Justice of the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. In her lecture, Professor Carrington examined a variety of experiences of violence suffered by women in different cultural and geographical contexts, along with movements of women’s resistance against violence developed in those diverse contexts. This analytical endeavour allowed Professor Carrington to consistently challenge the mainstream vision of feminism as an inherently western political movement.